Cutter head for power driven hair clipping and shaving devices



April 9,1935. M. ANDIS 1,997,096

CUTTER HEAD FOR BOWER DRIVEN HAIR CLIPPING AND SHAVING DEVICES Original Filed Jan. 26, 1931 Patented Apr. 9, 1935 PATENT OFFICE CUTTER HEAD FOR POWER DRIVEN HAIR CLIPPING AND SHAVING DEVICES Mathew Andis, Racine, Wis.

Application January 26, 1931, Serial No. 511,169 Renewed January 23, 1935 4 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in cutter heads for power driven hair clipp and shaving devices.

Objects of the invention are to provide a cut- 5 ter head which may be rotatively adjusted to hold the cutters either in a. hair clipping or in a shaving position; to provide a comb plate which may be ground exceedingly thin to adapt it for shaving purposes while preventing the points of the 10 comb teeth from penetrating the skin; to provide a simple and inexpensive cutter blade which may be formed of stamped sheet metal; and to provide improved actuating and guiding means associated with said cutter blade.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hair clipping and shaving device embodying my invention, showing the cutter head adjusted in a position for use as a hair clipper.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing the head adjusted in position for shaving.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view partly in section, drawn to a plane exposing the actuating arm of the armature bar.

Figure 4 is an isometric view showing the parts of the head separated.

Figure 5 is a detail view showing the rotative head block as seen from the side opposite that illustrated in Fig. 4.

30 Figure 6 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary view of one of the comb plate teeth showing the protecting knob on its point.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

35 Except for the head portion, the casing l may conform in shape and size to ordinary commercial practice relating to electrically operated hair clippers, and it may be assumed to contain any ordinary electrical motor or electromagnetic mecha- 40 msm such as is commonly used for operating hair clippers. An example of one such motor is disclosed in my former Patent No. 1,671,265 dated May 29, 1928.

The end portion I l of easing I0 is provided with a concave socket l2 best shown in Fig. 4, which receives the cylindrically curved or convex surface l3 of an adjustable head block 14. This block is providtd with an opening or slot IS, the upper and lower walls of which converge toward the so flat side 16 of the block, and through which slot the actuating arm I! extends, this arm having a forked extremity (Fig. 4) provided with laterally enlarged and rounded end portions l8 which may be engaged between the upset flanges 22 at the 55 rear margin of the cutter blade 23 to provide pivot bearings substantially at the axis about which the head block I4 is adjusted, as hereinafter explained. By locating these pivot bearings substantially at the axis the head may be oscillated for the purpose of adjustment without material change in the location of the bearings, the latter remaining in pressure contact with the flanges 22. This makes it possible to adjust the head without materially altering the relation between the actuating arm and the clipper blade, and the 10 latter can be guided for straight line reciprocation without jolting, and its field of movement accurately controlled in each position of adjustment of the head block H.

The knobs l8 are normally separated at a slightly greater distance than that between the flanges 22 of the cutter blade, but by pressing the fork arms together they may be inserted between these flanges 22 and allowed to engage them under resilient pressure, the material of which a the arm is composed being sufliciently resilient to provide a firm engagement with the flanges.

The cutter blade 23 has teeth 24 along its front margin, of ordinary type except that they and the forward portion of the blade may be made 25 very thin. Between the toothed portion of the blade and the flanged rear portion, the blade is corrugated along lines parallel to the front and rear margins to form a groove 25 adapted to receive a correspondingly corrugated arm 26 car- 30 ried by a resilient tension plate 21 which is secured to the adjustable head I by screws 30. The tension plate extends forwardly at a slight angle from the flat face of the adjustable head It whereby the corrugated portion of the arm 26 maypress upon the sides of the blade groove which'receives it in order to press the cutter blade against the comb plate 32 with the desired pressure.

It will be observed that the tension plate is substantially T-shaped, with the cross bar of the T bearing in the blade groove and the other bar wide and flat for connection with the head at a plurality of points.

The comb plate 32 has a rear portion 33 which is connected by screws 34 with projections 35 along the rear margin of the flat face l6 at the respective ends thereof. The. forward margin of the comb plate hasits lower surface milled to provide grooves which progressively increase in 0 depth in the direction of the forward margin of the plate, and the plate is ground to a greater thinness than the ordinary comb plates of hair clippers. The grooves extend through the plate in the fOlWId portion to form comb teeth, and

the points of these teeth are preferably approximately .004 to .005 of an inch in thickness.

To prevent the points of these teeth frompene- 'trating the skin during a shaving operation, they are provided with knobs 36 which are preferably cylindrical in form, and which may be composed of porcelain, enamel, lead, or other material fusing at a low temperature, and into which the points of the teeth may be dipped successively and momentarily until sufficient material accumulates upon the points in successively congealing layers to form knobs of the desired size, preferably having approximately three .times the diameter of the points of the teeth in a plane perpendicular to the face. of the comb plate, or of even greater diameter.

In view of the fact that but for the teeth, the forward margin of the comb plate would present a razor-like edge, it will be obvious that great mechanical difllculty would be encountered in so machining the points of the teeth as to provide them either with spherical tips or semi-spherical tips, whereas I have discovered that such tips may be quite easily provided by dipping the points of the teeth in molten metal of an easily fusible character, raising them immediately to allow the adhering metal to cool and solidify, and then again dipping and removing them to add additional layers of such material until the knob-like tips are produced.

The knobs 36 may be in the form of substantially complete spheres, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, or they may be ground away on one side or the other to provide half knobs, as indicated in Fig. 3. The method of forming these knobs is more fully set forth and described in a companion application bearing even date herewith, in which the method is claimed. a

As stated in the preamble. the cutter blade may be formed from sheet metal suitably cut to form teeth along its f ont margin and intermediately upset or corrugated, its bearing surfaces being thus confined to its front and rear marginal portions. It will be observed that the comb plate also has. the form of a sheet metal blade which is quite abruptly downwardly offset in froi ft of the rear bearing surface of the cutter blade, and from this downward offset the comb plate extends upwardly and forwardly in a plane which is oblique to said bearing surface. In forming the teeth by first milling and then grinding as above the cutterblade and-comb plate are confined-to narrowareas extending along the front and rear margins of the cutter blade, and the bottom of that portion of the comb plate in front of said downward offset progressively converges therefrom forwardly and upwardlyto meet the plane of said bearing surfaces substantially at the P ints of the teeth. This facilitates rocking the clipper over the downward offset to mute the cut, whereby hair maybe cut substantially at the scalpatthebeginningofastrokeandatprogressively increasing distances as the clipper advances in a hair clipping stroke. By thus formingthebladeslamenabledtonotonlyutilize sheet metal blades stamped to the desired contour, but I provide registering blades between which the hair will not catch or accumulate. By guiding the cutter blade independently of comb plate guides the bearing portions of the respective blades may all occupy a single plane.

The form of the ends of the adjustable head I is best shown in Fig. 4. Arcuate grooves 38 are cut into each end of the block to receive corresponding inwardly projecting ribs 29 formed in the end of the casing by undercutting the end portion of the casing to form the grooves 40, which receive'the arcuate ribs ll .formed in the ends of the head ll.

The arcs of curvature of the interlocking ribs 29 and 40 are concentric to the points of engagement of the actuating arm knobs I! with the cutter blade flanges 22, whereby the entire assembly, comprising the adjustable head ll, comb plate 32, and the cutter blade 23, may be oscillated for the purpose of adjustment rotatively about the axis of the connection between the armature and the cutter blade. I am aware that hair-clippers have heretofore been provided with adjustable comb plate supporting heads for the purpose of pro gressively varying the distance between the cutting area and the scalp from which the hair is being out. In such clippers the blades, (comb plate and vibratory cutter), are normally held in an ordinary hair clipping position and are manually moved out of such position while the clipper is in operation in .order to vary the length of the cut, the blades returning to their normal position as soon as the manual pressure is relieved. My invention differs from these prior art clippers in that the manual adjustment is necessarily made when the clipper is notin operation, and to accomplish my purposes means must be provided for mechanically holding the blades in the position to which they are thus manually'adjusted. The requirements as to range of adjustment are different, and the requirement for retaining the blades in a particular position of adjustment during operation is converse to the requirement for progressively adjusting blades during operation in the aforesaid prior art clippers. These requirements differ in order that my different purpose may be accomplished. e

In the clippers heretofore constructed the range within which adjustments may be made is quite limited, and the relation between the actuating armand thecutterbladeissochangedbyeven a limited adjustment as to make it n to use a loose jointed rattling, jolting and cramping connection, or to employ special gearing, in-' cluding pinions of the planetary type. The use .of special gearing is impractical and expensive. It is impossible to exclude hair from the gear teeth, and it is not possible with either gear connections or loose jointed vibratory actuating arms. to successfully operate clipper blade at the high 7 speeds under: which modern commercial hair-:-

toalsoallowanextremeadjustmenttoashaving position, in which the blades maybe operated asasafetymmris pemtet -h with a raking action, while the blades are extending upwardly and rearwardly in a plane oblique to the axis of the handle.

- To prevent accidental displacement of the head II from any given position of adjustment, one end of this head is provided with a socket in its convex portion to receive a compression spring 43 and a friction plunger 44 which is urged by the spring against the concave surface I! of the casing. The counte -pressure of the spring urges the ribs ll into frictional pressure engagement with the ribs 3! of the casing, whereby more than operating pressures are required to eifect a change of adjustment.

For hair clipping purposes devices embodying my invention will be adjusted substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and operated in the usual manner in which electromagnetic hair clippers are operated. But when the head is adjusted as indicated in Fig. 2, the device may be operated in much the same manner that a safety razor is operated except that the blade 23 will be vibrated under electrical power and in such proximity to the skin as to substantially remove the visible hair, as in a so-called rough shaving operation. The degree in which; a smooth shave can be approximated will largely depend upon the thinness of the comb plate and the diameters of the comb plate protectingknobs.

I claim: 1. In a clipper, the combination with a handle, of a t reciprocable blade, and an adiustable head provided with means for guiding said blade, and arcuate retaining flanges and complementary groove means concentric about an axis substantially in the plane of said blade and providing an interlocking connection between said head and handle.

2. In a clipper, the combination with a casing and an actuating element projecting therefrom,

of a transversely extending semi-cylindrical head to which the terminal portion of said casing is fitted and which is radially apertured to receive said element, flanged and grooved means interlocking the ends of said head with the sides of said casing for adjustment of said head about its axis, blade guiding means including a comb plate carried by said head adjacent said axis, and a blade connected with said element for movement parallel to said axis.

3. In a power-driven hair clipper, the combination with a casing, of an adjustable head having a generally semi-cylindrical form with ends embraced by portions of the casing in arcuate rib and groove connection therewith, said head having its convex portion seated in the casing in position maintaining irictional contact therewith, a comb plate connected to the flatside of said head, a cutter blade reclprocable upon the comb plate in advance of said connections, and a vibratory actuating arm extending through an opening in the head and connected with the clipper blade at the axis in an axial line of reciprocation'to which the areuate connections between the head and easing are concentric.

4. In a device of the described class, a sheet metal hair clipping blade provided with upset cars. at its rear margin, and an actuator comprising a bifurcated flat strip having forked arms with laterally extending arcuate tips engageable by compression between said upset ears.

MATHEW ANDIS. 

